Common Questions about the U.S.

All right so I wanted to list the most common questions that people have asked me about the U.S. or about me being from the U.S. It may not seem so at first, but these are oddly helpful in understanding life here and people’s perceptions of U.S. culture. So here goes:

• What languages are spoken in the U.S.? Or what is your local language? Okay so in Uganda, everyone has a local language, determined by one’s ethnic group, and (if educated) learns English in school as a second language. Because of that, it is considered strange that English is spoken as the primary and native language for many in the U.S. excepting certain groups.
• How is the weather? Or is it cold? Uganda is much warmer and 60 degrees is often considered cold and 50 freezing. My experience tells me that Ugandans could not handle a Chicago winter. I remember a friend of mine not believing me that I had been in snow until I showed him pictures.
• What do men do when they marry? I’ve already talked about this, but men are expected to give something to the wife’s family to help compensate for any loss in income when she moves out. I won’t discuss any more details here, see a previous blog post.
• At what age do people marry? All right, so a man is expected to marry someone younger than him by at least 5 years. I think around 7 is “normal” for most, although I have seen 15 year age differences. These are not common. Ugandans are very shocked when I say that people date roughly at the same age. (Okay, so I say “date” here because I know actual marriage can be different, but I notice that at least for my age group it is most normal to date at roughly the same age.)
• Why don’t you shave your chest hair? This is if they see my chest of course. Ugandans have very little hair and are often surprised to see my arms, legs, and especially chest. My usual response is something to the effect that “women like it that way.” This isn’t really why I don’t shave my chest, but I say it because it is a very convincing argument to an 18-year old boy when he is holding a razor and graciously insisting that he can just take it all off now right now, no problem. Okay, so that would make sense if realized that one time I frequently take my shirt off is when I am getting a haircut from one of the students.
• What team (in the British Premier League) do you support? This was more common when the Premier League was starting. They are surprised when I tell them that I’ve never heard of it and try to describe American football. We are such strange people. One of my friends was also talking about how Ugandans watch British soccer (and other European leagues) but pay absolutely no attention to Ugandan soccer teams.
• Do you have villages like this in the U.S.? The “this” is where I am living. They are usually trying to ask whether the rural areas are like the ones here, without roads, running water, electricity, etc. I have to answer in the “no” and when people ask about the details of rural life in the U.S., explain that I am from a city.
• Are there poor places in America? Okay, so this question is exceedingly complicated, not only by what “poor” means, but by what “America” means. It took me a while to notice this, but suffice to say that when the word “America” is used, people often mean the U.S. or the Americas (that is, North and South America). More confusedly, there often isn’t a clear difference between the two. I remember taking great pains on a few occasions trying to explain the South America is different than North America. So when someone says, “All but I heard that in the south, there are many poor people,” I have no idea whether they mean South America or southern U.S.
• Is there witchcraft, demons, or house shrines in the U.S.? I am usually asked two of the three. House shrines refer to shrines erected to worship the family idol or god. This reflects a traditionalist faith. One friend was trying to ask me what the pre-Christian (and pre-Muslim, which came at about the same time), religious traditions were. I wasn’t sure if I should explain Native American customs, although due to pretty horrendous treatment, they are now a small minority, or just say it was Christianity, and risk him viewing the U.S. as some sort of Christian stronghold.

When people ask about witchcraft or about whether they are demons in the U.S., I often am not sure how to respond. There are Satanists in the U.S., though they are very few. I also think there are demons in the U.S. even if they engage in different things. Here they are wandering if there is magic and other ways that demons inflict harm.

• How much does a plane ticket cost? Or how can one get in the U.S.? Why is it so hard to get to the U.S.? Okay, so many who ask the former really mean the latter. The latter is also often not asked as a question, but through explicit hints at wanting to the go to the U.S. Many view me as the best way to help, either through financial assistance or through marriage.
• What tribe are you from? Okay, so this one is not as common, but I was asked it multiple times by a certain family. I tried to answer by giving my ethnic heritage in terms of different European ethnicities, the closest equivalent to tribe I could think of for those in the U.S. (Okay and for the record, I can’t remember them and sort of mostly make them up. This almost certainly makes me an “American” – although not to be confused with someone in Latin America.) This didn’t seem to answer the question, and I was asked it multiple times until they gave up on my tribe.
• How are the roads there? Or how is the traffic? Okay, so the first question is asked in the rural areas where the roads can get bumpy, especially after it rains. People want to know if there are very many dirt roads in the U.S. The second was asked primarily in Kampala, where the traffic jams can be horrible. People want to know if they are as bad in the U.S.
• What are the stable foods in the U.S.? A complicated question that I already talked about in a different blog post. When I asked a Ugandan who had lived in the U.S. for many years how to answer that question, she said, “It’s meat.” I have a whole other blog about that and won’t get to it here.
• What do you think of the elections? What do you think of Obama? Why don’t Americans like Obama? Okay so when anyone asks a question about this, I usually try to turn it back on them, if anything to see how much they know about U.S. politics. (I’ve seen a huge range, and many are more knowledgeable on U.S. politics than me!) Those who like Obama may ask the third question, inferring this feelings from popular polls. (I have no idea if this is “up to date” but there have been times when Obama was done on the polls.) I sometimes find it funny when people ask me the election is going because being here, I have no idea.  
• How is the U.S.? And how are you finding Uganda? These are the most common questions I am asked, which should make sense.

All right, so I hope you enjoyed. Knowing what people ask is a surprisingly good way to understand a culture.